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Sunjiawan Formation
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Sunjiawan Fm base reconstruction

Sunjiawan Fm

Period: 
Cretaceous

Age Interval: 
early Late Cretaceous, (26) K2sj


Province: 
Liaoning

Type Locality and Naming

W. Liaoning. G. Morita erected the Sunjiawan series in 1939. The section for the designation is around the Sunjiawan Village of Fuxin of Liaoning. The reference section is around the Sunjiawan Village of the south suburb of the Fuxin City.


Lithology and Thickness

The Sunjiawan Formation is divided into two parts. Lower part is built up by grayish green and grayish white conglomerate intercalated with dark gray sandy mudstone and carbonaceous mudstone. Upper part is purple red sandstone interbedded with conglomerate.

[Figure: Disconformable contact between Sunjiawan and Fuxin formations in Banlashan section, Fuxin]

[Figure: Sunjiawan Formation in Gongguanyingzi section of Fuxin, Liaoning]

[Figure: Sunjiawan Formation in Chaoyanggou section of Pingzhuang, Inner Mongolia]


Lithology Pattern: 
Conglomerate


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

The base of the formation marked by the appearance of grayish green conglomerate with thin-bedded sandy mudstone is distinguished from the Fuxin Fm marked by gray yellow sandstone with thin-bedded coal beds, showing a disconformable contact with the latter.

Upper contact

Kosenko et al. (2021) indicate it is disconformably overlain by a Daxingzhuang Fm of Cenomanian-Turonian volcanic rocks (not in English Lexicon entries yet).

Regional extent

The present formation mainly occurs in the north Hebei and west Liaoning areas and is mostly developed in the Sunjiawan area of Fuxin. It varies considerably in lithology. In the Heichengzi area, it is dominated by purple conglomerate and sandy conglomerate, with a thickness of 1803 m. In the Qiantiejianggou area, it decreases in the amount of conglomerate and increases in the amount of sandy shale, with a thickness of 378.5 m. In the Zhihuan area of Fuxin, it is dominated by purple red sandstone with conglomerate, being of 450 m or more in thickness. It is 662.3-956 m in west Liaoning, 30-1000 m in the Tieling-Faku area, 216-886 m in the Xifeng area, 653-1552 m in east Liaoning, 15-1618 m in north Hebei.

The Sunjiawan Formation occurs in the Liaoning Province with different names. In the Tieling-Faku and Xifeng areas, it is called the Yuxin Fm and the Quantou Fm; and called the Dayu Fm in east Liaoning; and called the Ximalin Fm and Tujingzi Fm in north Hebei.


GeoJSON

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Fossils

The Sunjiawan Formation yields floras Acanthopteris onyuchioides, Ginkgoites sp., Elatocladus cf. manchuriaca; in the Dongliang area, ostracods such as Cyprideas (Bisulcocypridea) spinellosa, Triangulicypris longissima, Cylocypris invada and sporopollen grains such as the Deltoidospora-Classopollis-Tricolpites assemblage.


Age 

Wan Xiaoqiao "Based on the data of microfossils, biostratigraphy, isotope stratigraphy, and the sedimentary evolution stages of the Sunjiawan Formation, the present lexicon suggests that the Sunjiawan Formation corresponds to the Cenomanian stage of Upper Cretaceous and can be correlated to the Quantou Fm in the Songliao Basin. Therefore, the Lower and Upper Cretaceous boundary in western Liaoning-eastern Inner Mongolia is located at the bottom of the Sunjiawan Formation." In contrast, Kosenko et al. (2021) correlate the Quantou Fm of Songliao Basin to late Albian, and the Sunjiawan Fm to the upper half of Albian. – " If the Fuxin Formationcontaining N. yanjiensis is lower Albian, the overlying Sunjiawan Formation yielding N. yanjiensis should be younger, but probably not younger than Albian because the overlying volcanic Daxingzhuang Formation [Not in English Lexicon yet] is upper Albian-Turonian based on K/Ar dates (Zhu et al., 2002)." Therefore, these two opinions are merged here:

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Albian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.5

    Beginning date (Ma): 
106.85

    Ending stage: 
Cenomanian

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
0.5

    Ending date (Ma):  
97.20

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Wan Xiaoqiao

Enhanced with Igor N. Kosenko, Jingeng Sha and Boris N. Shurygin (2021). Upper Mesozoic stratigraphy of Sikhote-Alin (Russian Far East) and northeastern China: Non-marine and marine correlations. Part 1: Upper Jurassic-Hauterivian AND 2. Barremian-Aptian. Cretaceous Research, 124: articles 104811 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104811) AND 104812 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104812)